Mese: dicembre 2001

the grande familia and the surfin’ girl (Ani 5.dec.2k1 in Rome, Italy)
you’d call myself lucky, infact to go for a work mission in Rome for two days just ehm, magically in between one concert and with the hotel close 15 minutes from the venue and from the workplace requires a big straw of luck, and i appreciate this comfort, well not to say that i’d do also the hard part : when in February we’re here for the same reason i did drive with my car crossing half italy and got to sleep in my sleeping bag on a cold floor in a room with six girls (no, pls don’t envy me).
so here we go with the last show of Ani in Italy, in Rome, a city that she loves in a special way (see what she said last time she was here, err just a few months ago…).
We find again here as in Milan the Sungift as show opener, same remarks as below, i’d just add that a nice tank top left a nice view of the belly of the chick.. let’s go for more substance.

the Palacisalfa is quite a big venue (it’d host up to 2000 people) and it’s far away in the distance, there’s a gravel (ehm) road that leads there in almost darkness, we got a little earlier because of tickets to take (we got even a couple of free admission ticket by the band, wow) usual rush to gain the front row, you’d know that all shows in italy are general admission and there are no reserved seats, it’s just standing up , some seats may be way back just if you’re a lazybone or want to listen from a better position (sure closer to the soundboard acoustics is better but i’d not trade that for my front row place. Ain’t that the way opens the show , already at the beginning you’d see Ani is very relaxed (see one fine pic for an idea), she might not have that incisive side as in Milan but she’s just sweetly smiling at us, things sounds good trough firedoor that evolves into hat shaped hat, great job here by julie at keyboards, ah i was forgetting that at the beginning just in the middle of the front row this guy is ready to display a big sheet with “Ani let me play gravel with you” on, Ani sees it when it’s displayed and at first with a smile says uh the Turin Shroud and after some thinking says “shit we’ll have to figure out what to do..” when the guy tries to fold it back and it’s tough, ani bends and saying it looks like we’ve a problem here grab it and wrap herself around while she start singing.

after a while it becomes a problem playing with that stuff around and she trows away and just before Reg comes to clear the stage she kicks it away anticipating him with a nice grim. (ah for the usual clothes observers out there, ani was wearing a leather vest and ehm you’d see from low waist jeans a glitch of ehm uhm her black tanga, sexy!. Daren was then just kicking ass on Done Wrong;you had time was another intense and delicate moment with julie at a soft electric piano, Ani did join the keys section to play oh my my.

Another unforgettable moment was during freaskhow, after daren and ani were playing percussion the power on stage went off and instruments were just unplugged, so all of the band came as closer as possible to the edge of the stage so to be heard in the meantime Shawn and Reg were figuring out what’s going on (a similar thing happened in Turin 1999 and it’s amazing how quick they can react inventing something and go unplugged, Julie did even more she moved backward close to the edge and let herself fall on the audience, incredible, she was held up and did some surfing in circle on the audience till she was back on stage and in the meantime power did came back.again in the band introduction they all said how much they really love this place and we do just believe and saw living proof.
After the show we waited outside a while but it was not really possibile to catch’em leaving, we had a chat with Hans that was thanking all of us and remarking that we’re almost freezing out there but i told him that all in all with all the times we saw Ani we kinda got used to freeze our asses before and after show, they said they’ll be back on studio recording new stuff and hope to be back in our country next year hopefully in spring summer when the weather is fair. we’ll be there again.

Florence, the missing show…
well there ain’t much i can say about the Florence show apart from providing the setlist, just because i wasn’t there, people who were told me (and, ehm, i can somewhat confirm it) that the audience was sometimes really noisy and screaming, especially some english/americans, no wonder because in Florence there are a lot of foreign students. Ani did stop on both hands and waited for things to cool down and said: this is a very serious song, i’ve been reported also that someone was screaming on a slow song and someone of the band just did throw his towel at him, noisy audience was there also when Ani played in that same venue on february this year.
to the people who scream and sing along loudly so to disturb who’s on stage and other people in the audience, i’d just tell what’s in the living in clip insert : next time, shut the fuck up!

Fierce and flawless folk fiesta at Rolling Stone (Ani 3.dec.2k1 in Milan, Italy)

here i’m catching up with stories from recent ani tour, so last monday we drove that little distance from my home to Milan (60 km) in between our usual companion: fog. Got there enough in advance where there were just no more than ten people according to some rumors from the day before an opening band was supposed to be there, they said a japanese guitarist/singer, when the got on stage we discovered we we’re more japanese than’em, a cute chick indeed and his guitarist both italians, they said they’re

the Sungift (never heard before) and even if she had quite a powerful voice (do you remember the singer of four non blondes?) she was quite.. cold, so we we’re just waiting for the main dish….
.

As in all the recent shows, the beginning of the show was a sampled clip by Utah Phillips (There comes a time when the operation of the machine is so odious that you cannot even passively participate) and Ani starts with Ain’t that the way and just after back into older songs such as 32 flavors. I’d say that the stage was at optimal height for us (2nd row) to see the whole band, while in Modena was honestly too high (kinda breakin’ the neck of the not-so-tall girls in our group) and Ani was wearing guess 2 layers of tank top (orange and above, one with the New York skyline). Providence was just intense(this is not a happy song she said) and people were just in silence, energy started to flow as the song go on and even more in letter to a john and jukebox with Ani jumping and her hair

drawing design in the air. Energy that was just ok side by side with tenderness and fragility as in You had time and imagine that, really if i’d choose a key to read the whole show it was damn close to a definition of a perfect concert, like a crystal clear sharp image, with harmony and strenght,Some people asked for stories

and she said well i can tell stories just in english, that’s fiiiine someone answered, and so my iq was a capella (and it was not in the setlist) and you’d follow every single movement and expression of her face, with a silence like in a church.
One thing i really like of her is how she’s able to revisit old song (like worthy, with Julie really doing good groovy work on the organ) and classics such as the diner and shameless and i just can’t get tired at them.

Daren was also in good shape (jukebox) and i got the feeling that Jason was playing funkier and was more incisive.Beginning sick of me people asked for more “stories” and she was thinking what to do when someone

asked what did she think about italy and her experience, well ok, she said, well i mean see i feel like a total brown noser, did you have that expression in italian ? you get a brown nose when kissing somebody’s ass, but it’s true i’m not trying to kiss your ass, i do really love this country so much, i mean i don’t know a shit of course, you know i come for two days ,i drive around i stuff my base(?) i go home i hold my belly, i sleep but i remember the first time i came to italy i noticed that there was an opposite reaction completely opposite to what i was used you know i travel around like mmmmhhmhm and in germany they said, you’re very angry, why? you know, and i go country to country and it’s the same shit, what the fuck is your problem and i remember the first time i came to italy and i got my first interview and that guy was like you’re so passionate, you are so cool so…wow (it’s a story she already told once in another interview but we love it and then Sick of me starts and it’s almost time to say goodbye.

A review of the show would end here but i’ll add that after the show we had the chance to give a nice present, proudly produced and created by the fine folks in the italian hardcore fan, it was a thing for ani but also for evevry single member of the band (and the manager too!) and sawing the band thanking us was almost kinda difficult to believe,but when gig after gig we’re always there, long before and after the show… you know…

At the end a dozen of us got into one of the milan headquarters of ani fan (paola,silvia and francesca flat) to have a nice pasta at 2.30 in the morning (rubbing elbows with the moon;) Me and a girl that was with me (at her first Ani gig, thank you again Mirta for just being there) drove way back home in the fog thicker than ever, and got home when it was almost 5 AM .Say i was considering what Douglas Coupland call “trip to Australia” but i did choose for some rest, to be ready for more.

work hard, play hard

got back home after a two days away where i’ve been in Rome doing product demos, that’s to say standing up all day long and talking to groups of people, it’s been really interesting and well done, and then, at close of business day, change of clothes, put away the business suit and my corporate colored necktie and just wore my hooded sweatshirt and comfy trousers and … tah dah… going to another Ani show at Palacisalfa in Rome….(bringin’ my anigigcounter to 3 out of 4 shows in the last week, 6 in this year and 11 overall). It’s been more relaxed compared to the one in Milan (anyway imho the best in this italian 2nd leg), let me get some rest and i’ll be back with fresh stories from the front row

i’ll tell ya, i got home and into bed at 5 am after the milan Ani gig, i woke up at 6.30 am (yes 1.30hrs later) to go and meet a colleague that was leaving and should hand me me plane ticket for tonight flight to Rome and got back home to get a couple of more hrs of almost sleep, yet i feel really super happy and excited by that awesome show (probably one of the best i’ve ever been) and from the community that we put together and spend time in good company, expect to read more soon from me, selfproclamed english speaking ambassador for all about Ani in Italy. keepintouch !

Ani tour : let’s start the engine !
Just a few hours and the first concert of the 2nd leg of the 2001 italy tour of Ani DiFranco will take place, yess in an almost unknown little city , Nonantola, close to Modena, basically 200 Km from my home. So we’re getting ready to go, to start again this adventure, kms don’t matter too much, all in all, i did 1250 just last february, so this is my 4h ani gig in one year and the 9th overall. the plan for today is to get to Milan, get Annalisa and Francesca on my ani-car and go to modena or maybe bologna where we’ll pick up Lavinia then meet with Micol and Flavia somewhere. I know all those names maybe don’t mean anything to you but basically the core italian fan is well represented by them (and me of course), it seems i’m the only guy in this posse, and this reminds me of one thread Flavia raised in our mailing list about the perception that guys may have toward the folksinger. surely some topics or some position of Ani may have been considered as femminist but i think this is a limitation, it’s just seeing a detail and not the whole picture, so even guys (and straight, just in case you’re wondering) can appreciated her talents… see ya

serata interessante e alternativa, certo non propriamente “popolare”, infatti sono stato ad un incontro su di un tema che solitamente si cerca di evitare o comunque non sta proprio in cima ai pensieri: il tema del male e della sofferenza,il tutto a partire da alcune riflessioni bibliche dal libro di Giobbe. La cosa mi sembrava ancora piu’ provocante considerati i temi che invece affrontero’ nelle prossime serate ehm, cioe’ una serie di concerti della mia artista preferita : Ani DiFranco, che sul palco sprigiona entusiasmo, gioia (i do it for the joy it brings ‘cause i’m a joyful girl dice in una sua canzone).Un bel contrasto quindi.
Tornando al tema invece dell’incontro, certo, appare immediato come non si possa trovare una bella soluzione rapida ed immediata al dolore e alla sofferenza, o alla ricerca delle origini e dei perche’sottostanti,

Eppure lo sforzo dell’uomo di riflettere e di aprirsi alla speranza e alla via verso la salvezza (o forse alcuni si accontenterebbero della salute e’ la chiave di lettura della cosa, apertura che puo’ trovare conforto nella religione, nelle scienze sociali e mediche o nelle forme varie e sfumate di religiosita’ o spiritualita’.
Non penso di riuscire a ridurre la complessita’ del tema edegli interventi nello spazio utile di un weblog, ma quello che mi ha fatto pensare e’ proprio il concetto di apertura, di condivisione : penso che ogni forma di dolore o sofferenza se trattenuta in se’ diventi letale, una sorta di cancro poi difficilmente estirpabile, se invece in una qualche direzione ci si apre agli altri, se cerca di condivedere non solo i momenti gioiosi ma anche quelli pesanti, se, per chi crede, ci si lascia inoltre che Dio sia vicino, allora anche senza comprendere, forse comunque si trova motivo di andare avanti.
Dirlo a parole suona banale viverlo, tutt’altra cosa.